Silurian Period in Australia

Silurian covers the time between Ordovician and Devonian periods,
between 434 and 490 million years ago.

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While the first land
plants evolved during Ordovician,
the first vascular plants such as ferns
and cycads
developed during Silurian. These, larger plants would have created a
habitat for animals, which started to invade the land during Silurian.
Because by now, there was something to eat on the land.

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During Silurian,
the Australian continent was lifted so most of the eastern Australia
which during Cambrian
and Ordovician was under deep ocean, now
emerged from the water (areas inland from Cairns
and Townsville,
and further south, inland from Brisbane,
Sydney,
Melbourne
and easter Tasmania
remained under the water).

On the western coast, the sediments that now form the red
cliffs of Kalbarri National Park were laid. These sediments (inland
from Kalbarri) contain tracks of a giant water scorpion - some of the
first tracks of an animal on the land in Australia.
The first land animals were centipedes, amphibians and primitive
spiders.

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